Secret signal that told supporters of Ed Miliband's victory

The best kept secret of Ed Miliband's victory was revealed today - the signal that told supporters he'd won.

Sadiq Khan, Tooting MP and Mr Miliband's campaign manager, was with his boss when they were told the results in private 45 minutes before the public announcement.

Mr Khan had agreed in advance a system that would alert colleagues to the result as he walked out on stage. If he emerged wearing his conference pass around his neck, it meant "Ed Won". If he came out without a pass, that would have signalled "Ed Lost".

However, the plan nearly came to grief as Mr Khan, who is tipped for the shadow cabinet, realised at the last minute that he may not be allowed onto the stage without a pass - and that colleagues would think he had been forced to don his ID tag by security staff.

His colleagues waiting in the conference hall also began to have their doubts. Even though they were initially delighted by the "Ed Won" signal, when they saw David Miliband's original huge lead in early voting rounds, they began to worry their system had gone wrong. It was only on the very final round they realised it had worked.

The Ed Miliband team were at least relieved that they didn't repeat the blunder of the Alan Johnson team during the deputy leadership results' announcement in 2007.

Mr Johnson's campaign manager Gerry Sutcliffe had done a deal that he would wear his glasses if his man had won. But as he reeled from learning of his boss's narrow defeat to Harriet Harman, Mr Sutcliffe forgot the system and emerged wearing his specs anyway.